Update: Ben has already posted some U.S.-related news along with some interesting thoughts on the design. Check out his post here.
Information coming though from a couple of German blogs over the last hour indicate that the Duo is going to launch for 549 Euro with the N550 CPU, 2GB RAM and a Broadcom video accelerator.
Over at NDevil we get hands-on from a press conference. Comparison with the Samsung N350 shows that it’s much bigger and thicker. There’s a video too:
NewGadgetsDe also this one is in German have a video up. Launch date is said to be within the next four weeks. Obviously this news is from Dells German marketing team.
Our tracking page is here and we’re looking to analyse this one soon. Initial feeling is that it might be too heavy for any consumer-style tablet work and that as a netbook, there are better options. Looks good though!
For one, I think they have a very interesting take on the convertible form-factor. It’s novel and will definitely get the attention it’s looking for from consumers. I can see people looking at it next to a typical (boring) netbook and opting for the Duo because of its neat design (given that they are similarly priced). The issue is that when the screen is flipped to put the device into Slate mode, the user loses access to the trackpad and keyboard.
On the other hand, I’ve long exclaimed my hatred for touchscreen “shells” that sit on top of Windows. We’ve been using and testing UMPCs for years and this is definitely nothing new. After lots of testing, what have we found? The best UMPCs were those that don’t compromise on controls and then try to make up for it with a poorly designed touchscreen shell. The best ones have usable keyboards and mice intact, and allow users to interact with Windows the way that it was designed to be interacted with – using a keyboard and mouse.
Trying to drop a shell on top of Windows 7 and then claiming it a “touchscreen computer” doesn’t make it useful. Users need to do more than play a slideshow, play a track from their music library, or use some proprietary touchscreen app. They need to be able to control the applications that they use on a daily basis, in an efficient way.
All of this begs the question: will people actually use the touchscreen mode on the Dell Duo? Or will it quickly fade from a neat idea to a rarely used feature?
I have a convertible HP Tablet. I love it and use it as my full time computer. The only time that I utilize the touchscreen is when it’s in Slate mode and when I’m using it for digital ink input. I’ve actually disabled the finger touch input because it interferes with the handwriting, and it rarely, if ever, offers any benefit over a mouse and keyboard (remember, we’re talking Windows here).
The issue with the Dell Duo is that it lacks digital ink input (or I should say good digital ink input) because it uses a capacitive touchscreen which is incapable of tracking a pen unless it’s contacting the screen.. For me, this would make the Duo relatively useless in convertible its slate mode.
But different people use computers in different ways. Will users find useful ways to use the Duo in it’s keyboardless and mouseless slate mode? Let’s hear from the readers, how would you use it?
The Duo is looking very very close to production so official specs should be out soon. 1024×600 capacative screen, docking station, N550 Atom CPU and other specs should be confirmed soon. Here’s another video (see a demo of the swivel mechanism) I got of the Duo this afternoon at the Intel AppUp Elements event in San Francisco.
In the podcast we talk about the mobile computing highlights of CeBIT including the Archos 7, four convertible netbooks, the new Atom processors and ION GPU options and much more.
Full show notes and links to download/listen are at Meet:Mobility
Dell say: “It really boils down to this: for a lot of customers, 10-inch displays are the sweet spot for netbooks…Larger notebooks require a little more horsepower to be really useful.”
The real reasons:
Firstly, a point missed by Michael in his article. With a 12″ screen the customer expectations are way higher than with 10″ screens leading to dissatisfaction and returns. Secondly, the point the Michael makes. By setting netbook pricing you lower profit margins! Finally though, you do something extremely risky. You lower pricing expectations for the more powerful devices with higher profit margins.
I think most of us realize at this point that netbooks have gone mainstream. While most consumers probably still couldn’t tell you the difference between a netbook and a more powerful, full fledged laptop, that hasn’t stopped companies from taking advantage of the term ‘netbook’ as a buzz word. Case-in-point, Comcast and Verizon are now both offering deals which provide their customers with a ‘free’ netbook. Each company offers a different netbook to new customers:
Verizon has teamed up with HP owned Compaq to provide the Compaq Mini 110, which is essentially just a rebranded version of the HP Mini 110 [Portal page]. Of course it is just about the most stripped down version of the computer and comes with a small 3-cell battery, and a slow 16GB SSD.
And what good would marketing be if they were just giving these things away without any hassle? There is definitely some tape you need to run through before actually receiving your Compaq Mini 110. Verizon requires that you claim your prize at least 60 days after your instillation, but no later than 90 days after instillation. If you don’t claim your prize within that 30 day window, you are no longer eligible for the ‘free’ netbook. I mentioned ‘free’ because they also charge you $50 for shipping and handling.
Meanwhile, Comcast has jumped on board with Dell to offer customers the Dell Mini 10v [Portal page]. I have been unable to track down the exact specs of the Mini 10v that Comcast is offering, but we’ll assuming that it is one up from least equipped model: 16GB (instead of 8GB) SSD, and 3-cell battery.
So who emerges victorious in the battle to win customers over with a netbook? If we look just at the netbooks that each is offering, its actually a really tough call simply by the fact that both netbooks are so similar. I don’t think there is any differentiating factor that would make me pick one of these over the other, if not simply by brand. I would personally stick with Dell, but hey, maybe you are a die-hard Compaq fan? In the end, these netbook offers really aren’t adding that much value to your purchase. Sure they might make a nice computer for the kids, but if you are really in the market for a netbook, you should buy some of the value packed netbooks that are available these days. You wouldn’t sign up with one of these companies if they were offering a free TV and expect to get a nice TV would you?
Sony- Netbooks are Here to Stay; Touch Enabled VAIOs This Year – Sony recently hoped into the netbook game after sitting on the sidelines since the genre appeared. Now they are recognizing the netbook as something that they need to get involved in. In addition to the release of their Vaio W [Portal page] netbook, they are planning on releasing touchscreen computers after Windows 7 lands.
Asus Finally Launches the Eee PC 1004DN – Another one that we’ve known was coming for a while: The Asus Eee 1004DN [Portal page]. Asus’ first netbook with optical disk drive and the Intel GN40 chipset. Asus has now released it in Taiwan.
Active Media Offers SSD Upgrade Option for ASUS Eee PC Netbooks – Upgrading your netbook for a fast SSD is one of the single largest boosts in performance that you can get for your device. Luckily the cheap but fast SSD space is heating up in recent months and that means improved performance at lower prices for consumers!
Video: Dell Latitude 2100 promo video (landing page text in German, video at bottom) – The Dell Latitude 2100 [Portal page] is a slick looking education oriented netbook. A cool promo video highlights some of the features that help make it useful for the educational demographic.
Clearly the person leaking the Dell MID information to the NYT has no idea what’s going on there and has probably just walked through one of the research labs at Dell and got a bit over-excited. I’m sure if you got to walk through Apple’s lab you’d see a few Google Android-based devices too.
‘Could be scrapped’ or ‘may begin selling the device later this year.’ That’s called ‘evaluation’ I believe.
‘Dell may use chips based on designed licensed from ARM Holdings PLC.’ Shock!
‘Dell has considered selling the product through cellular carriers’ Now there’s a new idea to consider!
Justin Scheck of the New York Times didn’t exactly get a ground-breaking factual story and yet it got to #1 on Techmeme
Nokia, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, ASUS, Acer, Sony and many others will be doing exactly the same as Dell right now and evaluating the market for a non-voice Internet device using Android, Maemo and Moblin with ARM or Intel cores running HSPA or WiMAX technologies for Web, Navigation, Ebook, PMP and Gaming. Mobile Microblogging is a huge topic and the company that makes the first device to dovetail with this market stands to win a good lead. My money is on Nokia for Europe and Apple for US to be the first major players but because of the diversity of users, locations and applications, there’s an opportunity for many others out there.
I was pretty excited back in January when we first glimpsed the Dell Mini 10, the successor to Dell’s first netbook, the Mini 9 [Portal page]. There were several things that got me excited, but by far the biggest was the idea that the Dell Mini 10 [Portal page] would come equipped with a proper 16:9 aspect ratio screen and a native 720p HD resolution of 1280×720. Since the Mini 10 launched, it has only been available with a 1024×600 screen, until now. Dell is now offering if the promised “720p” screen, but it isn’t actually standard 720p format. Strangely, they kept the 16:9 aspect ratio, but upped the resolution from the HD standard (1280×720) to 1366×768. I couldn’t say exactly why they decided to go with the non-standard resolution (my guess would be that it is an already existing LCD), but at least they kept the right shape. Anyway, the higher resolution screen can be added for just $35 which isn’t bad for 459,264 additional pixels.
Question for the HD media junkies out there: Would you say that native 720p content looks better when 1:1 pixel mapped on a 1280×720 screen, vs. the same aspect ratio, but not 1:1 pixel mapping on a 1366×768 screen?
Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items that might not need their own individual posts but may still be interesting.
Rumor: Verizon and HP Readying Subsidized Netbooks – Cheap netbooks due to subsidizes from cell phone carriers are fairly common outside the US, but it seems like HP might be teaming up with Verizon to offer a discount on a netbook if the consumer wants to start a Verizon contract. If this comes to fruition, we’ll probably see a USB WWAN card offered with the netbook, but I think most of us are hoping for a more elegant internal solution.
Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items that might not need their own individual posts but are still be interesting.
Dell Mini 10 dissected — Dell support released a guide for disassembling the Dell Mini 10 [Portal page]. Looks like there are some PCI-e slots which will be good for modding, but RAM is soldered to the mobo which will make it very hard for users to do RAM upgrades.
HP Promises a Fix for Mini 1000 Webcam Woes — HP acknowledges that there is an issue with the HP Mini 1000′s webcam and says that there will be a method to fix it. Apparently the film over the webcam has a lower reflectivity than it should.
Gigabyte M1022 netbook has a cool dock — Jkk shows us a pretty slick looking dock for the Gigabyte M1022 which has VGA out, USB slots, and some other ports. It’s nice to see a dock for a netbook, but I hope the base is heavy so the netbook isn’t easily knocked over!
How to fix the dark webcam on the HP Mini 1000 — Liliputing links us to a new video (after the one taken down) that will show you how to remove the film over the HP Mini 1000′s camera, improving brightness.
First look at the new slim Acer Aspire One — It looks like Acer is planning yet another 10 inch Aspire One, despite the fact that their latest update has just recently been released.
Dell files for cancelation of Psion’s “netbook” trademark — Dell might not be the biggest netbook company out there, but they are clearly interested in the sector. Dell has filed for a cancelation of Psion’s claim to the ‘netbook’ trademark. Dell says that Pison abandoned the term and it should not have the trademark because of its “genericness”.
Dell launches Inspiron Mini 10 preorders… with QVC — Dell might have made the Inspiron Mini 10 official in the last several days, but the first place you’ll be able to pre-order it is through QVC. This is an interesting partnership and will definitely get the Mini 10 in the sights of those that might not normally come across it.
Asus Eee PC 1000HG with WiMAX gets official — WiMax might not be a highly deployed WWAN technology yet but that isn’t stopping Asus from slapping some letters on to the end of the Eee 1000 and putting out a model with built in WiMax.
We’ve added the Inspiron Mini 10 netbook to our comprehensive Product Portal as well as added a gallery of press shots. I’m looking forward to the Mini 10 and interested to see how it ranks on the Portal’s popularity charts.
While the Mini 9 [Portal page] was pretty standard fare as far as netbooks good, the upcoming Dell Inspiron Mini 10 (which Engadget had some hands-on time with at CES) throws us a few welcomed curve-balls. Dell has finally made it official for the US and the Mini 10 will be available for purchase on February 26th.
I’m looking forward to seeing the Mini 10 and here are a few reasons why:
True widescreen — 16:9 aspect ratio (10.1″)
Macbook-esque botton+trackpad… trackpad — The entire trackpad clicks down and functions like the mouse button
Custom multi-touch gesture support (via the trackpad)
GPS + WWAN
HDMI out port
WiFi B/G/N
The official page from Dell also tells us of some upcoming options
HD capabilities – Enjoy your favorite movies on the optional 720p Hi-def 10.1¨ seamless display.
More Storage – Do even more with optional 2GB memory and optional 250GB hard drive.
Navigation – Know your way like the back of your hand using the optional GPS with optional internal WWAN support.
Design Studio – Personalize your Mini 10 with cool designs from the artist, Tristen Eaton, in Dell’s Design Studio.
Long battery life – No need to sacrifice weight for battery life. The Inspiron Mini 10 provides extended battery life while keeping the weight of the system under 3 pounds. 3-cell: approx. 3 hours. 6-cell: approx. 6.5 hours.
The New TV – Watch your favorite TV shows with the internal digital TV tuner.
I’m most excited about the screen which will be able to support native 720p HD (1280×720) content with its 16:9 screen; I just hope the hardware is up to the task of playing that caliber of video!
According to Brooke Crothers from Cnet
